07-08-2018

NEWS
TUESDAY,
AUGUST 7, 2018
2
DSCC mayor address an open discussion at Nagar Bhaban Chattar yesterday.
China tightens
controls to slow
currency's fall
China has tightened controls
on trading in its yuan to
discourage speculators after a
decline against the dollar
amid a tariff dispute with
Washington fueled fears of a
damaging outflow of capital
from the world's secondlargest
economy, reports
UNB.
Traders must post a 20
percent deposit starting
Monday for contracts to buy
or sell yuan on a future date.
That raises the cost of betting
it will drop and might help to
discourage speculative
trading.
The tightly controlled yuan
has been allowed to decline
by about 8 percent against
the dollar since early
February.
That helps Chinese
exporters that face U.S. tariff
hikes by lowering their prices
in dollar terms. But it also
encourages investors to shift
money out of China, which
would have a broader impact
by raising financing costs for
other industries.
On Friday, the yuan slipped
to a 13-month low of 6.91 to
the dollar, close to the highly
symbolic level of 7, before
strengthening to 6.83 after
the margin requirement was
announced.
The deepening U.S.-
Chinese tariff fight prompted
suggestions Beijing might
weaken the yuan to help
exporters. But analysts say
the decline has been driven
mostly by China's slowing
economic growth and the
diverging direction of U.S.
and Chinese interest rates.
Washington imposed 25
percent tariffs on $34 billion
of Chinese goods on July 6
and is considering an
increase on an additional $16
billion, with another $200
billion list of goods
threatened. Beijing matched
Washington's first round of
increases and on Friday
threatened penalty charges
on another $60 billion of U.S.
imports.
Communist leaders have
tried to stick to long-term
economic plans, resisting
U.S. President Donald
Trump's demands to change
industry development.
European allies
uneasy as US
restores Iran
sanctions
As the Trump administration readies to re-impose
sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015
nuclear accord, America's European allies fear
greater regional instability, reports UNB.
President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the
landmark agreement, signed by the U.S. and five
other world powers, remains one of the most
consequential foreign policy decisions of his
presidency.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday
that renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran will be
rigorously enforced and remain in place until the
Iranian government radically changes course.
While calling sanctions an important pillar in U.S.
policy toward Iran, he said the administration is
open to looking beyond sanctions but that would
"require enormous change" from Tehran.
"We're hopeful that we can find a way to move
forward but it's going to require enormous change
on the part of the Iranian regime," Pompeo told
reporters aboard his plane on his way home from
a three-nation trip to South East Asia. "They've
got to behave like a normal country. That's the
ask. It's pretty simple." Pompeo called the Iranian
leadership "bad actors" and said Trump is intent
on getting them to "behave like a normal country."
Many U.S. allies believe that such language is
code for regime change, according to two
European diplomats involved in negotiations with
the Trump administration over how sanctions
would be re-imposed.
The sanctions that go back into effect on
Monday cover Iranian trade in automobiles and
metals, including gold. The U.S. also has banned
imports of Iranian products such as carpets and
pistachios and revoked licenses that allowed Iran
to purchase U.S. and European aircraft. Iran
acquired five new European commercial planes
on Sunday before the sales were cut off.
Saudi Arabia orders
Canadian envoy to
leave over criticism
Saudi Arabia has ordered the Canadian
ambassador to leave the ultraconservative
kingdom after criticism of its arrests of activists,
reports UNB.
A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement early
Monday also announced that it would freeze "all
new business" between the kingdom and Canada.
Some 10 percent of Canadian crude oil imports
come from Saudi Arabia. Canadian officials did
not immediately respond to a request for
comment. The dispute appears centered around a
tweet by Global Affairs Canada calling on the
kingdom to "immediately release" women's rights
activists recently detained by the kingdom.
Among those recently arrested is Samar
Badawi, whose brother Raif Badawi was arrested
in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later sentenced to
1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for criticizing
clerics. His wife, Ensaf Haidar.
Photo : TBT
Brazil's right-wing
candidate picks
general as
running mate
Far-right presidential candidate Jair
Bolsonaro picked an army reserve
general Sunday to be his running mate
for Brazil's October elections, reports
UNB.
Bolsonaro, who is the candidate of
the Social Liberal Party, announced
his choice of reserve Gen. Hamilton
Mourao, who belongs to the rightwing
Brazilian Labor Renewal Party.
Brazilian political parties are small and
seek to form alliances in setting their
presidential tickets.
Mourao made headlines last year
with comments perceived as
supportive of military intervention in
politics at a time of widespread
corruption.
Speaking at a Masonic lodge in
Brazil's capital, Mourao said
intervention by the armed forces was
possible if the country's political
problems were not repaired. "Either
the courts remove those involved in
illicit acts from the public service, or
the army will," he said.
After being named by Bolsonaro,
Mourao told reporters, "It is an honor
and privilege to take part in the
country's reconstruction."
Bolsonaro is a congressman and
former army captain who has said he
will fill his Cabinet with former and
current military people. His promises
to crack down on corruption and crime
have him running second in the polls,
though with only about 20 percent in a
crowded field of potential candidates
and he has come under strong
criticism for numerous racist, sexist
and homophobic comments over the
years.
He was fined for telling a female
member of Congress in 2014 that she
was so ugly she "didn't deserve to be
raped." This past April, the attorney
general charged him with racism and
discrimination for comments about
blacks, indigenous people, refugees,
women and gays.
The front-runner in the polls is jailed
former President Luis Inacio Lula da
Silva of the Workers' Party, who was a
highly popular leader during his two
terms in 2003-2010. The party
formally named him its candidate
Saturday, but da Silva is likely to be
barred by Brazil's electoral court
because he is in prison.
Since April, the former president has
been jailed on a corruption conviction,
but he denies any wrongdoing and
claims he is being politically
persecuted.
Bam Ganatantrik Jote Gaibandha brought out a procession to meet their various demands.
Photo : Gaibandha Correspondent.
1,000s of homes damaged
in Indonesia earthquake
Thousands of homes were damaged
by a powerful earthquake Sunday on
the Indonesian tourist island of
Lombok, reports UNB.
National Disaster Mitigation
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo
Nugroho said the death toll had
risen to 82 with hundreds injured.
Most of the deaths were caused by
collapsing houses.
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake
early Sunday evening struck in the
northern part of Lombok and was
also felt on Bali, where the airport
terminal had ceiling tiles shaken
loose.
Australia's home affairs minister
has tweeted that he and his
delegation have been safely
evacuated in darkness from a
Lombok hotel where they have been
staying during a regional security
conference.
Home Affairs Minister Peter
Dutton told Fairfax Media that he
was on the hotel's 12th floor when
the quake struck. He says the quake
"was powerful enough to put us on
the floor" and cut power.
Australian Prime Minister
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalist formed a human chain at National Press Club premises
protesting attack on Journalist.
Photo : TBT
Ex-primary school
teacher killed in
Joypurhat road
crash
JOYPURHAT : A retired
headmaster of a primary
school was killed after
being hit by an
autorickshaw in front of a
bank in Kalai upazila
headquarters on Monday
morning, reports UNB.
The deceased was
identified as Abdul Khalek,
65, a resident of Takahut
village of the upazila and
former head teacher of
Purkalitola Government
Primary School.
Police said that the
vehicle hit Khalek in front
of Sonali Bank around
10am, leaving him
critically injured.
Later, he was taken to
Kalai Health Complex
where doctors declared
him dead.
The teacher came to
bank to collect his pension
money, said family
sources.
Malcolm Turnbull told Nine
Network television he will call
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi"
Widodo on Monday "to offer all the
Australian assistance that can be
made available."
He says there are no reports of
injured Australians.
Model Chrissy Teigen has shared
her shock and worry in real-time
during a powerful and deadly
earthquake in Indonesia with her
social media followers.
The model, along with singerhusband
John Legend and their two
children, felt the shaking while on
vacation in neighboring Bali on
Sunday.
"Bali. Trembling. So long," Teigen
tweeted to her 10.6 million
followers.
The magnitude 7.0 quake has
killed at least 39 people on the
tourist island of Lombok, about 50
miles (80.5 kilometers) from Bali. A
brief tsunami warning went into
effect but was later lifted.
The aftershocks unnerved Teigen,
too.
"im either still trembling or these
GD-996/18 (5 x 3)
little quakes won't stop IM TRYING
TO BE NORMAL HERE," she wrote.
The head of the disaster
management agency in Indonesia's
West Nusa Tenggara province,
Muhammad Rum, says the death
toll from an earthquake that hit the
tourist island of Lombok has risen
to 39.
The magnitude 7.0 quake centered
on northern Lombok struck early
Sunday evening and was also felt
strongly in neighboring Bali, where
it damaged buildings.
Officials initially reported that at
least three people had been killed.
It was the second quake to hit
Lombok in a week. A magnitude 6.4
quake on July 29 killed 16 people.
An Indonesian official says at
least three people have been killed
after a strong earthquake struck
the popular tourist island of
Lombok.
Najmul Akhyar, district chief of
North Lombok, told MetroTV that
there was an electrical blackout so
he was unable to assess the entire
situation, but that at least three
people had been killed.
Hiroshima marks 73rd anniversary
of atomic bombing in WWII
Hiroshima marked the anniversary of
the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing with
a somber ceremony Monday to
remember the people killed and
injured and a call to eliminate nuclear
weapons amid hopes of
denuclearizing North Korea, reports
UNB.
Mayor Kazumi Matsui opened his
peace address by describing the
hellish scene of the blast that morning
73 years ago and the agony of the
victims, telling the audience to listen
"as if you and your loved ones were
there." He raised concerns about the
rise of egocentric policies in the world
and warned against the idea of nuclear
deterrence as a threat to global
security. Matsui urged leaders to
steadily work toward achieving a
world without atomic weapons.
"Certain countries are blatantly
proclaiming self-centered nationalism
and modernizing their nuclear
arsenals, rekindling tensions that had
eased with the end of the Cold War,"
Matsui said, without identifying the
countries. Nuclear deterrence and
nuclear umbrellas are "inherently
unstable and extremely dangerous"
approaches that seek to maintain
international order by only generating
fear in rival countries, he said, urging
world leaders to negotiate in good
faith to eliminate nuclear arsenals
instead.
The U.S. attack on Hiroshima killed
140,000 people, and the bombing of
Nagasaki killed more than 70,000
three days later, leading to Japan's
surrender and ending World War II.
The anniversary comes amid hopes
to denuclearize North Korea after Kim
Jong Un and President Donald Trump
made vague aspirational statements of
denuclearizing the peninsula when
they met in Singapore in June. "We in
civil society fervently hope that the
easing of tensions on the Korean
Peninsula will proceed through
peaceable dialogue," he said.
Japan should take a more
constructive role to achieve a nuclearfree
world, he said, urging Tokyo to
help the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons take effect. Japan,
which hosts U.S. troops on its land
and is covered by the U.S. nuclear
umbrella protecting it from attack, has
not signed the treaty.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who
also was at the ceremony, said
differences between the nuclear and
non-nuclear states are widening. But
he pledged to do more to bridge their
gap. In order to gain cooperation from
both sides, it is important for everyone
to understand "the reality of the
tragedy of nuclear attacks," he said,
and reiterated Japan's pledge to
maintain it pacifist and non-nuclear
principles.